Melania Trump Honors Karl Lagerfeld with Sketch That Showed He Dressed Her When Others Wouldn't

First Lady Melania Trump joined the chorus of fashion industry insiders paying tribute to late designer Karl Lagerfeld.

It was reported Tuesday morning that Lagerfeld, the creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his eponymous line Karl Lagerfeld, had died at age 85. The news came several weeks after Lagerfeld missed Chanel’s spring 2019 haute couture show in Paris on January 22, leading to reports that he was in poor health.

The First Lady and former fashion model, 48, paid her respects to the designer on Twitter, revealing that Lagerfeld had dressed her for an early appearance as First Lady.

“Today the world lost a creative genius,” Melania wrote. “We will miss you Karl!” The First Lady shared three photos, including a sketch of a Lagerfeld design that he had labeled “Mrs. Melania Trump.”

Melania wore the white peplum top and pencil skirt designed by Lagerfeld as she and President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu at the White House in February 2017, just one month after President Trump was inaugurated.

Melania also wore a Chanel Couture design to the Trumps’ first state dinner at the White House, in April 2018.

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Lagerfeld was not one of the designers who boycotted or refused to dress the Trumps after the controversial 2016 election. (Notable names who did refuse include Christian Siriano, Zac Posen and Sophie Theallet.)

In a February 2017 interview with WSJ Magazine, Lagerfeld said, “I knew Trump before, when he was not in politics. I’m not American, but he’s a democratically elected president of America, so people have to deal with it.”

“Fashion people are fashion, they are not politics,” Lagerfeld added.

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Chanel confirmed Lagerfeld’s death in a statement on Tuesday: “It is with deep sadness that the House of Chanel announces the passing of Karl Lagerfeld, the Creative Director for the Chanel Fashion House since 1983.”

“An extraordinary creative individual, Karl Lagerfeld reinvented the brand’s codes created by Gabrielle Chanel: the Chanel jacket and suit, the little black dress, the precious tweeds, the two-tone shoes, the quilted handbags, the pearls and costume jewelry. Regarding Gabrielle Chanel, he said, ‘My job is not to do what she did, but what she would have done. The good thing about Chanel is it is an idea you can adapt to many things.’”